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Everything posted by Pips
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Hellshade, the Camel, more than any other aircraft, needs a firm and confident hand at the controls. Here are a couple of things I would suggest you do to master the beast. First off before attempting any sort of manoeuvers get lotsa height. I mean lots, a minimum of 10,000ft is good. Try any manoeuvers and spin and height just disappears. So the more the better. If you have lost height regain it before trying another manoeuvre. It is a tiring aeroplane to fly, due to it's tail heaviness which requires you to maintain forward pressure on the stick at all times. But that lets you loop in an instant, faster than anything else, including the Tripe. So if you get surprised just whack back the stick and you'll loop over onto your opponets tail. But be warned. As the Camel loops its twists to the right (that torque again), so apply some LEFT rudder as you go over. A good way to practice is when looping look out to your right (or left) at 90 degrees and watch your wingtips. It should perform a neat circle. If it does you have applied just the right amount of rudder. If not, then you need to experiment with rudder. Personally I don't think it's a good idea to use trim to level out flight. If you forget to negate it you'll find the Camel doesn't peform so well in combat. You can turn faster to the right than any other aeroplane in the game. So that should be your standard avoidance manoeuvre (that and the loop). You can actually - when your skilled enough - turn 270 degrees to the right faster than you can turn 100 degrees to the left. Time it you'll see. But beware, right turns are very tricky as the nose drops badly and you can enter a spin in the blink of an eye. The trick to maintaining control is to watch how you apply rudder. The normal process in any co-ordinated turn is to apply rudder in the direction of the bank. So right turn right rudder, and once you have banked to around 80 degrees (depending on the aeroplane) the rudder then functions as the elevator - twisting right or left rudder lets you raise to lower the nose during the turn. However because the torque pull to the right is so pronounced in the Camel if you keep right rudder on for too long you corkscrew down into a spin. So you have to reverse rudder ie if turning right switch rudder from right to left) earlier than normal in the bank to counteract torque. Torque and ailerons are still pulling the Camel over to the right, left rudder allows you to keep the nose up to maintain a reasonably level turn, and the elevators let you tighten the turn. It's a different technique for turning left. Because that marvellous torque is ALWAYS pulling right, as you bank left the aeroplane wants to climbs. So bank left and apply at least 3/4 left rudder and keep applying left rudder all through the turn. Depending on how good a joystick you have you may even have to apply full left rudder. Make sure your rudder is calibrated. You know you've mastered turns when you can perform level turns in both directions in the Camel. The Camel is slow, so you won't catch much unless you have height. Same as the Dr.1. It doesn't have a particulary stirling climb rate so don't try to climb with either the Dr.1 or the D.VII. Or even the late model D.V's for that matter. If they go up you should extend outwards to give yourself room to manoeuvre. If they stay close in the climb you may be able to peform a modern day Immelmann, but if you miss your slow with no energy so beware. and if you do want to do a climbing turn make ue you perform it to the left, the natural way to climb the Camel. Go right and you'll either spinout or climb so slowly your opponet will be perched on top of you. Hope some of that is useful. It works ok for me. PS Fortiseboy, in real life the Camel, if left to it's own devices, will rollover and drop it's nose to the right and spin in.
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Something I hadn't noticed before - and had been meaning to ask about for ages and kept forgetting! I was checking something in Windows Explorer and noticed that in the file layout under C:\Program Files>Microsoft Games there are five sub files. Namely CFS3 Med Air War, CFS3WWI OFF, CFS3, Microsoft FSX and WWI Scenery (which contains a whole group of subfiles). Just wondering why WWI scenery would be in a separate folder to OFF?
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Ball did indeed have an influence on armament. Originally the intention was to equip the Se.5 with just a Vickers, Ball pushed for the addition of the Lewis. As regards speed, well there is always some contention on this issue. The sources I use are the Windsock datafile for the Se.5/a and Davilla's "French Aircraft of the First World War" for the SPAD. And those figures are: Se.5 - 150hp 116mph (187km/h) @ 10,000ft (3048m) 105mph (169km/h) @ 15,000ft (4572m) Se.5a - 200hp 126mph (203km/h) @ 10,000ft (3048m) 116mph (187km/h) @ 15,000ft (4572m) SPAD VII - 150hp 180km/h (111mph) @ 3000m (9,840ft) 174km/h (108mph) @ 4000m (13,120ft) SPAD VII - 180hp 204km/h (126mph) @ 3000m (9,840ft) 200km/h (124mph) @ 4000m (13,120ft) SPAD XIII - 200hp 206km/h (128mph) @ 3000m (9,840ft) 201km/h (125mph) @ 4000m (13,120ft) 190km/h (118mph) @ 5000m (16,400ft) SPAD XIII - 220hp 211km/h (131mph) @ 3000m (9,840ft) 207km/h (128mph) @ 4000m (13,120ft) 195km/h (121mph) @ 5000m (16,400ft) The 180hp SPAD VII was widely produced in 1917, and was the equal of the Se.5a 200hp in terms of speed and climb. The SPAD XIII was both faster (marginal) and had a better climb rate at all levels. There was also a SPAD XIII with a supercharged 220hp Hspano-Suiza that topped out at 220km/h (137mph) at 3000m (9,840ft). But that wasn't in widespread use. NB: Sealevel speeds for all aircraft are higher, but I haven't included them as they have little bearing in general combat operational use. If your caught down that low your probably in very serious Trouble. :)
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As always Mike your work is superb!
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Weight saving was the main criteria. The SPAD VII was a heavy aircraft (1632lb) compared to the Pup (1225lb) and the Nieuport 17 (1246lb). Aerodynamically it wasn't a particularly effective design so to perform well it had to have a powerful engine (150 or 175hp) to both provide speed (considered by the French to be of paramount importance in combat) and assist in lift of the taper thin wings. And fast it was for it's time - faster than any German aircraft. With the advent of the SPAD XIII the engine was uprated to 230hp, it was fitted with two mg's and weight increased to 1801lb. Only marginally larger than the VII, almost the whole of that weight increase went in the larger engine and the fittings associated with installing two mg's. And at 138mph it was the fastest scout on the Front. Which was why both the French and the American's loved it. It didn't turn as well as the VII, but it was faster on the level and in climb, as rugged and strong in the dive and had two mg's. Rickenbacker considered it to be the best of the Allied fighters in 1918 (but then he may have been biased). Weight was also the factor as to why the Se.5 and 5a had only one Vickers and one Lewis. At 1988lb it was grossly overweight, so a second Vickers was dropped in favor of the much lighter Lewis. Performance wise the SPAD VII and the SE.5a were similar in speed and turn rates, the SPAD superior in dive and the Se.5a better at height and gliding. As to fighting the SPAD's the following article should be of some interest. It's based on an interview given by Rene Fonck to the NY Times. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/...9629C946996D6CF
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Interestingly though some pilots did have their ground crew polish their aircraft. Rob Little (the great Australian ace) was fanatical in having it done, claiming that he gained 4mph in his Tripe. Cobby too was a great believer of polishing, as were Guynemer and Dorme. Interestingly though I haven't been able to find anything on McCudden doing the same - surprising given his perchant for tinkering. While a degree of weathering is evident in most photo's I hope the skinners don't go down the path of the RB3D guys. The current practice there is the very weathered look, which means all colours are very washed out (paisley infact). Sadly this has made the game very dull visually.
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Some great idea's have been covered. Transfers would definitely add to the immersion level. Two that have been mentioned that I really like though are an improved flight map (take a leaf out of Red Baron and just provide a sectional map for the in-game flight) and more aggressive two-seaters - even the clumsiest types in real life attempted avoiding action. My pet hate is the long load time and multiple screens. If they could be cut down to just one from briefing I'd be a very happy chappy. :)
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Anyone found any good bridges to fly under? If so where? It's a favourite pastime of mine.
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Offwatch, perhaps the best books on the subject are: "Pioneer Pilot - The Great Smith-Barry", by Frank Tredrey. Smith-Barry learnt to fly in 1911, flew out to France with the fledging RFC in 1914 and was the driving force that created a systematised and sophisticated form of flying training – the Gosport School – which revolutionised the instruction of RFC pilots, and led to the adoption of new standards in all of the world’s Air Forces. "CFS - Birthplace Of Air Power", by John Taylor. This is the complete story of the Central Flying School from its formation at Upavon in 1912. Of those two Pioneer Pilot is far and away the best IMO. It addresses the whole issue of training of both the RFC and the RNAS (both of which had completely different ways of training pilots) in the early days through to Smith-Barry's almost scientific way of teaching both novice pilots and the instructors responsible for teaching them. Until you get your hands on those here are several links that address the subject: http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/aviation...t-training.html http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/aviation...ove-battle.html http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/aircraft...ced-flying.html http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/aviation...ir-service.html
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DM: just right after 1.28?
Pips replied to Herr Prop-Wasche's topic in WOFF UE/PE - General Discussion
I just broke up when I read that Hellshade!! I can just see now all the wives and girlfriends lining up by the doorway taking aim. Man, we'd end up looking like swisscheese. :yes: -
The camel is a beast of an aeroplane. It was so in real life and, I'm glad to say, display's similar nasty traits in OFF. It is the most exciting kite (IMO) to fly in OFF. What you can do with it in dogfights is truly amazing. But it does take a lot of practice. A couple of things I would suggest. First off before attempting any sort of manoeuvers get lotsa height. I mean lots, a minimum of 10,000ft is good. Try any manoeuvers and spin and height just disappears. So the more the better. If you have lost height regain it before trying another manoeuvre. It is a tiring aeroplane to fly, due to it's tail heaviness which requires you to maintain forward pressure on the stick at all times. But that lets you loop in an instant, faster than anything else, including the Tripe. So if you get surprised just whack back the stick and you'll loop over onto your opponets tail. But be warned. As the Camel loops its twists to the right (that torque again), so apply some LEFT rudder as you go over. A good way to practice is when looping look out to your right (or left) at 90 degrees and watch your wingtips. It should perform a neat circle. If it does you have applied just the right amount of rudder. If not, then you need to experiment with rudder. Personally I don't think it's a good idea to use trim to level out flight. If you forget to negate it you'll find the Camel doesn't peform so well in combat. You can turn faster to the right than any other aeroplane in the game. So that should be your standard avoidance manoeuvre (that and the loop). You can actually - when your skilled enough - turn 270 degrees to the right faster than you can turn 100 degrees to the left. Time it you'll see. But beware, right turns are very tricky as the nose drops badly and you can enter a spin in the blink of an eye. The trick to maintaining control is to watch how you apply rudder. The normal process in any co-ordinated turn is to apply rudder in the direction of the bank. So right turn right rudder, and once you have banked to around 80 degrees (depending on the aeroplane) the rudder then functions as the elevator - twisting right or left rudder lets you raise to lower the nose during the turn. However because the torque pull to the right is so pronounced in the Camel if you keep right rudder on for too long you corkscrew down into a spin. So you have to reverse rudder ie if turning right switch rudder from right to left) earlier than normal in the bank to counteract torque. Torque and ailerons are still pulling the Camel over to the right, left rudder allows you to keep the nose up to maintain a reasonably level turn, and the elevators let you tighten the turn. It's a different technique for turning left. Because that marvellous torque is ALWAYS pulling right, as you bank left the aeroplane wants to climbs. So bank left and apply at least 3/4 left rudder and keep applying left rudder all through the turn. Depending on how good a joystick you have you may even have to apply full left rudder. Make sure your rudder is calibrated. You know you've mastered turns when you can perform level turns in both directions in the Camel. The Camel is slow, so you won't catch much unless you have height. Same as the Dr.1. It doesn't have a particulary stirling climb rate so don't try to climb with either the Dr.1 or the D.VII. Or even the late model D.V's for that matter. If they go up you should extend outwards to give yourself room to manoeuvre. If they stay close in the climb you may be able to peform a modern day Immelmann, but if you miss your slow with no energy so beware. and if you do want to do a climbing turn make ue you perform it to the left, the natural way to climb the Camel. Go right and you'll either spinout or climb so slowly your opponet will be perched on top of you. Hope some of that is useful. It works ok for me.
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Pheweeee! :tomato2: I seem to have stirred up a hornets nest over at The Aerodrome, and have come here to escape. I made the mistake of raising the question as to how many 'all-red' triplanes MvR flew. The reason I asked is because in 'No Parachute' Lee mentions that he had a combat with one on the 6th September 1917, and the commonly held view is that MvR only flew one in April 1918. Given the body of knowledge at The Aerodrome I expected someone to simply say that they had seen the relevant combat reports of 46 Squadron and that they did not support Lee's claim. But no one has said so - which either means they have and couldn't be bothered answering, or haven't which means that the research into the subject isn't as thorough as has been claimed. Interesting. So look out if you go over there. It's a bit delicate. :)
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I'm not running jarhead. Just catching my breath.
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Almost all the books mentioned above (great as they are) have been written from memory by the author (or a ghost writer), often several years after the war ended with the aid of perhaps a diary, most often simply using log books. As such they lack an immediacy in describing a highly tenuous lifestyle and (to varying degree's) take on a somewhat romantic view of 'life as it was'. If you want to get down and dirty, to know exactly what life was like on a daily basis in a Squadron on the Western Front, you can't go past two books. One's been mentioned by Smokey earlier and that is "No Parachute" by Arthur Gould Lee. It is, IMO, the most accurate book on life in a scout squadron. Lee keep a detailed record at the time with the aim, in his words: "They were written by a husband of twenty-two to a girl he has impetuously wed in the heady atmosphere of war. They were written to satisfy, first her concern, and second his urge to describe on paper the great, great adventure. they were written in the ardour and immediacy of the hour. They contain neither heroics nor fine writing. They simply record the day-to-day happenings, in the air and on the ground, in a fighter squadron of average renown during eight months of 1917." Lee covers it all, the attitude towards death, popular expressions, views on higher authority, how the aeroplanes handled - their strenghts and weaknesses, weather, Mess high jinks - the lot. The other book (in a similar vein) is "In The Teeth Of The Wind" by C.P.O. Bartlett. Again through highly descriptive letters and diary Bartlett draws you into the life of a two-seater pilot in the RNAS, first flying Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters and later D.H.4's over the Western Front. If you read the above two books you'll know, exactly, what life was like flying aeroplanes in WWI.
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Sopwith Triplane vs Fokker Dr.1......
Pips replied to Womenfly2's topic in WOFF UE/PE - General Discussion
In a report dated in June of 1917 Manfred von Richthofen wrote the following: " . . . the Sopwith Triplane is the best aircraft the enemy possesses. It climbs better, is more manoeuvrable and does not lose altitude in a bank, is faster and can dive straight down." From the book Fokker Dr.I Triplane: A World War I Legend. -
The Sopwith Tripe is such a better looking aeroplane than the Dr.1 IMO.
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As the book "No Parachute" by Arthur Gould Lee is my favourite read, I thought I would fly a campaign with him in No.46 Squadron, starting when he did ie 22 May, 1917. And given the superb accuracy of this sim No.46 is stationed just where it should be in May 1917 ..... at La Gorgue equipped with Sopwith Pup's. Unfortunately this is where the game departs slightly from reality. Not a big thing really - it probably falls under the 'too difficult' heading, where time constraints, lack of information and resources are stretched. Still, perhaps down the track this wonderful sim can address even these issues. :) You see, in the game La Gorgue is like all aerodromes (well, the ones I've seen to date anyway). Nice set of huts and tents laid out beside a typically shaped rectangular landing field. But in reality La Gorgue was nothing like that layout. I'll quote from Lee's book. Note: Lee has spent the last five days sitting idly by at No.1 Aircraft Depot, at St. Omer, awaiting assignment to a squadron, having been shipped over to the Pilots Pool from Portmeadow flying school. This is his first deployment overseas, although he has the surprising number of 85 hours to his credit - 72 1/2 solo, with 18 on Sopwith Pups. Most budding new pilots at this time only had approximately 15 - 20 hours total flying! The day of days has come! At long last I'm with a Scout squadron in the Field in France, and feeling on top of the world. I arrived about teatime, and haven't had a chance to fly yet. The suqadron is a rather different setup from what I expected, more informal, and something of a change after training squadrons in England. We're plesantly situated alongside the River Lys, near the village of La Gorgue, with two towns within easy reach, Melville and Estaires. The Lys runs eastwards towards Armententieres and on into Hunland. But ....... there's no aerodrome! At least, nothing resembling the kind that I'm used to, vast stretches of grassland like Netheravon and Portmeadow. After a quick journey in a Crossley from St. Omer to Merville we came along a cobbled, poplar-lined road until suddenly we slowed down and turned off left, past a sentry, into a cindered area surrounded by numerous huts and tents, a line of Leyland lorries, and a large wooden shed, the end of one of a row backing on to the road. These were the hangers. In front of them, on a long cinderedstrech which was the tarmac, stood a few Pups, attended by a sprinkling of mechanics. In the eastern background, seeming quite close, an observation balloon hung motionless, looking like an enormous vegetable marrow. But no aerodrome. Only a rough wide field of potatoes, with several bent shapes working the land. The driver had pulled up by a modest hut with oiled silk windows, a sort of overgrown packing case, with the RFC ensign flying above and a gas alarm flanking the door. As I got down I asked, 'But where's the aerodrome?' He grinned, pointed to the potatoes and said, 'There's a criss-cross of cinder tracks in the middle of that.' The following day Lee went up for the first of his familiarising flights. From the air the field looked like: The aerodrome is a shocker, a sort of Union Jack of cinder tracks five or six yards wide, running among the potatoes and other crops. You taxi out from the hanger for about 150 yards, with an ack-emma holding onto each rear interplane strut, to a cindered space in the centre some thirty yards square. The mechanics are there to stop you dropping into the drainage gullies that flanl the tracks, a necessary precaution, especially in a side wind, when the Pup can be darned difficult to taxi. If you run off the track when landing, over you go on your nose with a broken prop at the very least. Both Courtneidge and Williams, who've only been here twelve days or so, have had landing crashes, and they warned me to be careful. When you get into the air you can't believe it's an aerodrome. The tricky cinder-tack criss-cross makes it stand out from surrounding fields, so it's bad for camouflage reasons. Apart from that, you've got a big acerage of mixed crops flanked on one side by a river lined with poplars, and on the otherby a row of hangers, backed by more poplars, also telegraph poles, on the main road. Whoever picked this place as an aerodrome must have been completely off his rocker! He certainly was not a pilot himself. Still, the odd layout of the aerodrome made for easy recognition when returning from the Lines. By the by, if you haven't read 'No Parachute' you are, IMHO, missing out on the BEST book on WWI flying. Given that it was written on a day by day basis, as a deliberate attempt to record his experiences, Lee achieved an immediacy and realism that is lacking in other books - which are most often written from memory many years later eg Sagittarius Rising, An German Airman Remembers, Recollections Of An Airman, Flying In Flanders, Winged Warfare and Winged Victory. Even Flying Fury was written a year after most actions occurred.
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Now that I've got my Pfalz D.III avatar I feel like I'm settling into my new home. :)
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Well..... new to this forum. It's been quite a while since I last posted on the other forums, don't know whats happened to the post counter.
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Hey Ted, did we lose all the historical info again? Or did you save it before SOH close ddown the forum??
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Like the game we luv so much, one has to be ready to change to altered circumstances. Thanks Combatace for providing a new home for us. :)
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DirectX 9.0c Troubles
Pips posted a topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 1 Series - General Discussion
I've been trying to d/load the new DirectX package from the Microsoft site, so that I can then reinstall and load up my SFG version with SP$ and the new Weapons Pack. But I'm having a lot of trouble with the validation process on the Microsoft site. When I go through the steps of validation I end up with the page showing stating that I am not authorised to veiw blah blah. Now I knwo i have a genuine Microsoft Windows XP installation - after all it was part of the computer package I bought. So what on earth can be the problem? Any suggestions welcome. :)